Ume Laila
Islamabad Foreign Women Association and Serena Hotels Islamabad hosted International Food Festival for fundraising to help underprivileged people on 06 May 2023 where mouth watering dishes from around the world were presented for the taste of the participants.Serena Hotels hosted the event in connection with its cultural diplomacy. The income of the festival will be donated for charity purpose.
First Lady Begum Samina Alvi inaugurated the festival. Spouses of Ambassadors of Czech Republic, Italy and Spouse of CEO Serena were also present. Prominent stalls were from 19 countries including Pakistan, Czech Republic, Germany, Tunisia,Egypt, Italy, Morocco, Thailand, Nepal Maldives, Japan, Indonesia, France ,Netherlands, Argentina, Kyrgyzstan and other countries.
Members of the diplomatic corps based in Islamabad, their families and people from different walks of life visited the festival. At the festival, stalls of traditional dishes of various countries were set up.
After formally commencing the festival in a ribbon cutting ceremony, Begum Samina went to the stalls and showed her keen interest in the food on offer.
The organizers of the festival told Begum Alvi about the cuisine on display. They thanked the first lady for her presence and said her patronage was a source of encouragement for them.
The IFWA is a non-political, non-profit organization established in 1995 by wives of ambassadors posted in Islamabad to help the underprivileged and disadvantaged women and their children, and to raise funds for their benefit.
Wife of the ambassador of Czech Republic Ms Irena Smetankova shared that IFWA is organizing this event to get funds for our charity fund and the money will be used to support different projects. We are soliciting projects from groups of people who need support, mainly women and children.The idea of the food festival was to bring people together to share food and explore different cultures under one roof.
Ambassador of Morocco Mohamed Karmoune was introducing Couscous, the traditional Moroccan dish and presenting Moroccan tea to the visitors. Likewise, Ambassador Tapas Adhikari of Nepal, Adam Tugio of Indonesia were also offering the mind-blowing Momo and Nasi Goreng to the visitors
A drum beating performance by the Japanese children was also the highlight of the day while the second edition of the coffee-table book “Colours of Pakistan through the Eyes of Diplomats” was also soft launched on the occasion. The book has been compiled in partnership between Miracle Trust which was founded by Imran Shaukat and Elli Takagaki and IFWA.
